Gone for 60 seconds: Reactivation length determines motor memory degradation during reconsolidation
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1
ETH Zürich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Switzerland
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2
KU Leuven, Dept. Kinesiology, Belgium
When a stable memory is reactivated it becomes transiently labile and requires restabilization, a process known as reconsolidation. Animal studies have convincingly demonstrated that during reconsolidation memories are modifiable and can be erased when reactivation is followed by an interfering intervention. Few studies have been conducted in humans, however, and results are inconsistent regarding the extent to which a memory can be degraded. We used a motor sequence learning paradigm to show that the length of reactivation constitutes a crucial boundary condition determining whether human motor memories can be degraded.
In our first experiment, subjects were assigned to 4 different experimental groups each participating in 3 sessions on 3 consecutive days. At day 1, they acquired a 5-element finger sequence during 12 blocks (30s tapping followed by a 30s break). At days 2, the learned sequence was reactivated either via a short reminder (tapping the sequence 5 times) or a long reminder (3x30sec blocks). Reactivation was followed either by interference (experimental groups) or by rest (control groups). Subsequently, memory was tested in all subjects on day3 (3x30s blocks). We found that a short reactivation of a learned motor sequence renders the memory labile and susceptible to degradation through interference, while a longer reactivation does not, not does reactivating the motor memory without exposing it to interference afterwards (F(3,44)=2.88, p=0.046). In our second experiment, we reproduce these results and show a significant linear relationship between the length of memory reactivation and the detrimental effect of the interfering task performed afterwards, i.e. the longer the reactivation, the smaller the memory loss due to interference (F=7.81, p=0.0071).
Our data suggest that reactivation via motor execution activates a time-dependent process that initially destabilizes the memory, which is then followed by restabilization during further practice.
Keywords:
human,
motor learning,
memory consolidation,
Memory reconsolidation,
Motor performance
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Memory and Learning
Citation:
Wenderoth
N,
De Beukelaar
TT and
Woolley
DG
(2015). Gone for 60 seconds: Reactivation length determines motor memory degradation during reconsolidation.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00311
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Nicole Wenderoth, ETH Zürich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Zürich, Switzerland, nicole.wenderoth@hest.ethz.ch